The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus for surface treatment to etch a substrate or to form a thin film with a plasma by supplying a radio-frequency electric field to an antenna, generating an electric field, and thereby generating a plasma by the electric field, and a method of using this apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to a semiconductor processing apparatus for processing a semiconductor device, and a method of using this apparatus.
In a semiconductor processing apparatus for generating a plasma by induction by feeding an electric current to a coil-shaped antenna, there is a problem that a vacuum chamber wall made of an non-conductive material and enclosing a plasma generating unit so as to establish a vacuum atmosphere is partly removed by the plasma. In order to solve this problem, there has been conceived a method using a field called the “Faraday shield”, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 502971/1993. If the Faraday shield is used, however, the plasma ignitability is so deteriorated that the plasma is not ignited unless a voltage as high as tens of KV is applied to the feeding portion of the coil-shaped antenna. This apparatus may fail with a high possibility by the discharge between the antenna and a conductive structure nearby. In order to prevent this discharge, an additional structure is needed to insulate the antenna from the existing structure, causing the apparatus to be complicated.
When a Faraday shield is used to reduce the partial removal of the wall, foreign matters are liable to adhere to the wall and to appear if its sticking rate to the wall from the plasma is accelerated. Therefore the partial removal of the wall must be adjusted according to the process.
The plasma density distribution is determined mainly by the generation rate distribution and by the state of transportation of ions and electrons. In the absence of an external magnetic field, the transportation of the plasma diffuses isotropically in every direction. At this time, electrons instantly escape and tend to reach the wall of the vacuum chamber because the mass is no more than {fraction (1/1,000 )} of that of an ion, but they are repelled by the sheath (ion sheath) formed in the vicinity of the wall. As a result, a quasi-neutral condition of the electron and ion densities is always met in the plasma, so that both the ions and electrons are bipolarly diffused toward the wall. At this time, the potential of the plasma takes on its maximum where the plasma density, i.e., the ion density, is the maximum. This potential is termed the plasma potential Vp, approximately expressed by Vp≈Te×ln(mi/me), where Te, mi and me are the electron temperature, the mass of an ion, and the mass of an electron, respectively. In the plasma, the potential distribution is determined by the potential Vp and the wall potential (ordinally at O V), so that the density distribution is correspondingly determined. Since, in this case, the plasma is confined by the electrostatic field established by itself, the density distribution is determined by (1) the shape of the apparatus, (2) the place where the induced electric field takes on the maximum, and (3) the ratio of the generation ratio/the bipolar diffusion flux.
When the coil is wound by several turns on the vacuum chamber, for example, the magnetic flux generated by the coil takes on the maximum at the central portion so that the induced electric field takes on the maximum at the central portion. Moreover, the induced electric field cannot penetrate deeper than about the skin depth, e.g., 1 cm, so that both the ionization factor and the dissociation factor take on their maximums at the radially central portion (in the direction of arrow r, e.g., in FIG. 21(a)) and just below the dielectric member (in the direction of arrow z, e.g., in FIG. 21(a)). After this, the plasma diffuses towards the wafer side (downstream side). In the case of an ordinary chamber having a cylindrical shape, therefore, the plasma density is the maximum at the central portion in the direction of arrow r, and the degree of central concentration rises downstream so that the plasma density becomes nonuniform in the region where the wafer is placed.